After the Project
by Anastasia.akilina
Summary: Recently updated with changes. Many of the freelancers have settled down and started families after Project Freelancer was discontinued-Carolina, York, Wash, etc. Although they have tried to keep their past lives a secret from their children, they can't hide them from family forever. Will the kids get involved in something?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

AN1: I do not own anything from Red vs. Blue, or Roosterteeth. Bravo to those who created it; it is one of my most favorite internet shows. I _DO_, however own my storyline and OCs, and would like to remind people that not only is it against the rules of this website and all others, it is also very rude to steal other peoples' works -not to mention it tells others that you have a serious lack of creativity. (If my stories happen to reflect yours, I am very sorry, but I do my best to keep things from being similar, so if it is, it is simply coincidence; great minds think alike.)

AN2: This story takes pace slightly in the future –as does the series- yet maintains many things you see every day in the present. To be more specific, this story takes place seventeen years after the events of RvB assuming it doesn't take the characters on some other adventure that will last more than a couple of years. Also, if I don't know someone's real first or last name, I am just going to make it up; if I find out later, I will continue the story with the correct name(s). :D Enjoy

Oh, and one more thing. I feel the need to mention that most of my stories main characters will share some similarities. This is due to the fact that I tend to write them based on people I am familiar with. i.e. the lead females of both my stories so far are based on the general characteristics and appearance of my cousin. :) The others are generally

**Caroline Alice Morrison**

Age: 17

DOB: July 7

Height approx: 5,6

Hair: coppery-red/curly, wavy

Eyes: blue-grey

Nickname(s):

Parents: John Morrison, and Katherine Church Morrison

**Leonard James Morrison**

Age: 18

DOB: March 17

Height approx: 6,1

Hair: dark brown, black/straight

Eyes: green

Nickname(s): Lenny

Parents: John Morrison, and Katherine Church Morrison

**William Edward McGraham**

Age: 6

DOB: October 11

Height approx: 3,5

Hair: blonde/straight

Eyes: blue

Nickname(s): Will

Parents: Reginald (Reggie) McGraham(RT owned first name), and Lucy Crane McGraham

**Dakota James/Montana Jeane**

Age: 8

DOB: June 12

Height approx: 4,7/4,5

Hair: brown/very curly

Eyes: brown-hazel

Nickname(s): Koda/Tana

Parents: Jake Bennit, and Katie Dawson Bennit

**George Washingon Keyes**

Age: 17

DOB: November 3

Height approx: 5,11

Hair: medium brown/straight

Eyes: brown

Nickname(s):

Parents: David Keyes(RT owned first name), and Mary Marshall Keyes

**Sarah Marie Dawson**

Age: 13

DOB: April 13

Height approx: 5,0

Hair: Dusty blonde/ straight

Eyes: light green

Nickname(s):

Parents: Mark Dawson, and Kara Seamison Dawson

**Terra May Keyes**

Age: 16

DOB: May 9

Height approx: 5,7

Hair: blonde/loosely wavy

Eyes: hazel

Nickname(s):

Parents: David Keyes(RT owned first name), and Mary Marshal Keyes

Caroline's P.O.V. (Will be most of the time.)

It was the middle of winter in Kentucky; fourteen degree's outside and snowing. We'd gotten out of school early today, but I still had to be at work by four thirty. I worked at the local book store, in the coffee shop. I couldn't complain, I loved books and I loved coffee; not to mention I got pretty nice discounts on both. While I was always a happy person, I was normally fairly calm; today, however, I was literally bouncing in my seat as I drove down the street watching it snow. I had always loved snow and even though we saw enough of it every winter, I still couldn't help getting excited when it came.

I pulled into my usual parking spot and made a mad dash for the door; I had straightened my hair when I'd gotten home from my short day of school, and if that got wet, then I was in for a big fight; whenever my hair gets the slightest bit damp it frizzes out into a giant, curly, red afro.

When I made it in the door, I greeted my 'cousin' Terra who worked the check out. Of course we weren't real cousins, but our parents were very close and we had been raised together, so we acted like we were related; we even referred to each other's parents as 'Aunt' and 'Uncle'.

After grabbing my apron off its hook, I set to work on making sure everything was clean and in place after I'd relieved the last person working. I had been raised by parents who had both been active in the military, so order was second nature to me. Everything had a place it that small kitchen, and though most of the other employees didn't mind a little mess here or there, I made sure everything _stayed_ neat and organized; that was why I worked the last shift of the day, every day except Sunday.

I had been there for about an hour, when my dad showed up. He was a retired military officer who now contented himself by working for the government as a network hacker, similar to what he'd done in the field; however, he hadn't had what he considered an assignment for almost three months, but that didn't cut his ridiculous government salary. In his spare time, he helped teach the local boy scouts, self-defense and survival skills along with mom. When my brother had joined boy scouts, both my parents had urged me to join girl scouts, but I wasn't about to have that; so I instead chose dance, karate, and horses.

"Hey, Caroline." Dad greeted me. "Care to get me a coffee?"

"Sure." I said moving to the coffee maker.

"So how was your excruciatingly long day of school?" He asked sarcastically, rolling his good eye. (Over the years he'd taught himself how to move just the good one, leaving his blind eye to stare at people in order to creep them out –something he enjoyed way too much.)

"Oh, 'twas absolutely the most horrid day I've ever experienced." I replied just as sarcastically, mocking my 'Aunt' Lucy's thick British accent to add a dramatic affect. I had definitely inherited my sarcasm from Dad.

He laughed and I handed him his coffee. There was hardly anyone in the store at the time, so I didn't feel guilty sitting down to talk with him. I loved to hear his tales about things that had happened when he was in service; many of the situations I found truly hysterical, and frequently questioned the validity of some of the stories (not that I'd ever tell him of course). Today, I settled for a retelling of the time my mom had kicked his butt in training. When he was done with that story, I thought of another request, but then noticed Terra's shift had ended, so I waved her over.

I stood and got her and I each a smoothie –Strawberry/Banana for her, and Pomegranate for me. After I had done that, she made a request for a story about her dad, knowing that my dad told the best stories, and that both our dads had worked together in the field. While my dad had mostly been in charge of security, hacking and intel, her dad had been in charge of, well, not much; Dad always jokes saying he was just kind of there.

We talked for a couple of hours with myself returning to the counter whenever I saw a potential customer and when the store closed at seven, the three of us caravanned to 'Aunt' Katie's and 'Uncle' Jake's house. They were the only couple, other than my parents, in our little 'family', who had worked together in the military –all my uncles, my parents, and my 'Aunt' Katie, had been together. When we arrived, Terra and I were greeted by our little 'cousins' Dakota and Montana; Jake and Katie's ten year old twins. They were the two craziest children I had ever seen. They only obeyed their mother and although they were generally well behaved, if they happened to get in a fight, something was bound to break; 'Uncle' Mark, Katie's own twin, said that they acted just like he and his sister had when they were growing up.

Once we had greeted everyone, we all crowded around the two dining room tables we had placed together, and had dinner. When that was over, most of the adults crammed into the living room to watch a recording of the previous Saturday's football game, since they had missed it for the little twins' birthday; other's remained in the dining room to talk. Terra took Dakota, Montana, and William, 'Uncle' Reggie's six year old son, up to the 'play room' to put together a puzzle; she'd always been great with kids, while I could barely stand them. The rest of us –my brother, Leonard, Terra's brother, George, 'Uncle Mark's daughter, Sarah, and I- all went to the family entertainment system, downstairs.

We had originally planned to play video games, but Sarah threw a little teenaged-brat fit anytime we wanted to play a game that she said her mom 'wouldn't allow her to play'. In reality, though, we all knew it was just that they either scared her, she didn't understand them, or she knew she would completely fail at them; she was so annoying sometimes.

We decided on watching a movie, and a short argument ensued between horror and action; action won in votes - honestly, my brother's the only one of us who watches scary movies; they're so predictable. When Sarah saw what movie we put in –Star Wars ep. IV- she loudly complained, "Why would anyone want to watch such a stupid old movie?"

"Oh, come on, Sarah." I said, trying my best to be nice. "Everyone likes Star Wars; it's a classic. Besides you've never even seen it, how do you know you won't like it?"

"Because it's _old_ and _nerdy_. Besides its science _fiction_, and that means it's not real."

"Fine." George threw in. "If you want to watch something based on real life we'll watch one of 'Uncle Jake's old war movies." He smirked evilly.

"No, because those are too scary; besides, Mom says I'm not allowed to watch violent movies." She sniffed pompously.

"Or we could watch a boring documentary; those are really real life." Leonard added in.

"Yeah, and boring." She shot back.

"Well, what would you like to watch then?" I questioned in an exasperated tone, already guessing at her response.

"Something _new_, and _popular_, duh; like 'My First Crush'." She said making reference to the preteen Disney show that had really absolutely nothing to it except this girl narrating her diary. (AN: I just made that show up. XD Disney, if you like the idea, you can just give me the $$$$ even if I do love you. LOL)

I stifled a laugh, as she fluffed her hair, and hmfed; she was so different from her parents. "Fine, how about this." George asked, holding up a clear DVD case with 'old pictures' written sloppily on it in 'Uncle' Jake's handwriting. "If we can't decide on any _movies_, why don't we see what's on this?"

"UUMM, I think you might want to ask first." Leonard said snickering. "You never know what might be on that, and we would want to give Sarah real nightmares; or ideas." Everyone burst into laughter except Sarah, who stood there with a confused and grumpy look on her face.

Important: Hello to all my readers. I know I've been away for a while, but college is tough. Add that to a crazy job schedule and you basically expect daily chaos. I'm back now, and brain storming on both my stories and even considering some others. AND, I have a very important request for all of you. I'm asking you, yes you with your nose in a computer, phone, or any other tech device, to break out your drawing supplies. That's right, it's fan art time; all you have to do is draw one or more of my Ocs and send me a link through private messaging. Now, I know some people aren't comfortable with sharing their art to the general audience, so I'm starting a two way competition; one for those of you who don't want it to be shared, but want to be recognized as the best, and one for the person who wants to share it with all my other readers. It can be from either story, and may include non-Ocs as well. If you have any questions, just message me, or respond in the reviews. … I'm pretty sure there will be questions though, because I'm not to good at explaining this. The winners of each story and category (if there are participants in both) will be announced on the 1st of each month. So you all have the opportunity to win


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

AN1: I do not own anything from Red vs. Blue, or Roosterteeth. Bravo to those who created it; it is one of my most favorite internet shows. I DO, however own my storyline and OCs, and would like to remind people that not only is it against the rules of this website and all others, it is also very rude to steal other peoples' works -not to mention it tells others that you have a serious lack of creativity. (If my stories happen to reflect yours, I am very sorry, but I do my best to keep things from being similar, so if it is, it is simply coincidence; great minds think alike.)

AN2: This story takes pace slightly in the future –as does the series- yet maintains many things you see every day in the present. To be more specific, this story takes place seventeen years after the events of RvB assuming it does take the characters on some other adventure that will last more than a couple of years. Also, if I don't know someone's real first or last name, I am just going to make it up; if I find out later, I will continue the story with the correct name(s). :D Enjoy

AN: LOL See what I did there? :3

See ch. 1 for character listings.

"UUMM, I think you might want to ask first." Leonard said snickering. "You never know what might be on that, and we would want to give Sarah real nightmares; or ideas." Everyone burst into laughter except Sarah, who stood there with a confused and grumpy look on her face.

After we had calmed down enough to talk, we all went upstairs to ask about the disc. When we found 'Uncle' Jake, we agreed that, since Leonard was the oldest, he would ask.

"Hey, Jake." He greeted our 'Uncle' much less formally than we did.

"Hey, man. What's up?" Asked Jake.

"We were looking for a movie to watch and found this. I thought we should ask first, though." He smirked when he was finished.

Jake laughed a little, then said. "To be honest, I don't even remember what's on that, but I promise you, it's nothing bad. It's probably old college or wedding pictures." Hearing the word pictures, his wife, our 'Aunt' Katie, came over to look.

"I wonder, what they are. You want to go see?" She asked questioning her husband.

He nodded, smiling, and stood up. "Hey guys, anyone else care to see when these pictures are from? They could even be from training." He joked.

Eventually, everyone decided to give up on the game, and give into curiosity -and Sarah's obnoxious begging. Everyone, but Terra, and the younger kids -who seemed quite occupied by their puzzle- packed into the four sofas placed in a semi-circle around the giant flat screen in the entertainment center. When we were all settled, we gave 'Uncle' Jake control of the remote, and pressed play.

They first pictures were of our parents in plain uniforms, seemingly in a training program of sorts. Some of the pictures were of them goofing off, and others were of them just hanging out.

Jake's P.O.V.

_Oh, cool. So they were from camp. Awe shit, what if they show the Project?_

I looked at the others worriedly, and obviously they were all thinking the same thing.

John's P.O.V.

_Awe man Jake. Why didn't you check first? We all promised the kids wouldn't know about _all _of this. What if they find out too much?_

I saw all the other adults looking at Kathrine and I took to questioning her with a look as well.

Kathrine's P.O.V.

_Dammit, Jake, you're as thoughtless as ever; think about the consequences of something before you do it._

I noticed that nearly all my old teammates were looking to me for a sign of whether we should stop the video or not.

At this point if we did, Sarah would have a screaming fit, Leonard and George would nag us until we explained ourselves, and Caroline would find a way to steal it and she, Leonard, George and William would watch it anyway. _Besides,_ I thought to myself, _we'll have to tell them sooner or later; what if something happened and they were pulled into it, because of our history in the military?_

I smiled, slightly, and nodded, mouthing 'It's OK.' They would go along with it as long as I said it was alright; I'd explain myself later.

Caroline's P.O.V.

'Uncle' Jake continued to click through the pictures slowly. Eventually, the pictures of them training stopped, and we clicked on the next set. I noticed that all the adults seemed to stiffen as he clicked to the first one.

It was a picture of all of them, along with other people. They were all wearing matching T-shirts and pants, but they were different from those from earlier. The next pictures were of them doing simulated combat in a training area. –whoever was missing, obviously taking the pictures.

After a few more, an image appeared of about twenty people in armor along with a few in uniform. All had their helmets removed, so we could easily pick out our parents. I found Mom and Dad standing next to each other. Mom was wearing teal colored armor, while Dad was wearing light brown.

A little while later, it dawned on me that I had seen some of the earlier pictures before, but had never seen any like these. When we ran out of pictures, George asked the question that I, and probably everyone else, had been wondering.

"What are these pictures of? You never told us about them."

Nearly all the adults looked to Mom. "Well, we never intended on telling you about Project Freelancer." She said. "We figured it would be better if you didn't know what happened. However, since your relations to us, and your achievements in school have made you noticeable, we figured it would actually be better if you understood the situation." We all looked a little confused.

"If something came up involving the project, such as a court case or an investigation, you would be pulled directly into it. And if something was to happen, and they started a draft, you would all be near the top of the list; that's our biggest worry, and with the behavior of some colonies…" She trailed off after mentioning the revolts in some of the nearby colonies.

Although Sarah would probably need a thorough, hour-long explanation of what we were just told, Leonard, George, and I understood. If something went wrong, we'd be some of the first they'd look to; either to blame or to ask for help, depending on the situation.

Important: Hello to all my readers. I know I've been away for a while, but college is tough. Add that to a crazy job schedule and you basically expect daily chaos. I'm back now, and brain storming on both my stories and even considering some others. AND, I have a very important request for all of you. I'm asking you, yes you with your nose in a computer, phone, or any other tech device, to break out your drawing supplies. That's right, it's fan art time; all you have to do is draw one or more of my Ocs and send me a link through private messaging. Now, I know some people aren't comfortable with sharing their art to the general audience, so I'm starting a two way competition; one for those of you who don't want it to be shared, but want to be recognized as the best, and one for the person who wants to share it with all my other readers. It can be from either story, and may include non-Ocs as well. If you have any questions, just message me, or respond in the reviews. … I'm pretty sure there will be questions though, because I'm not to good at explaining this. The winners of each story and category (if there are participants in both) will be announced on the 1st of each month. So you all have the opportunity to win


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

AN: Sorry It's been so long. I need to go back and made some changes to the previous chapters and the Character listings, but I'll have to download the documents first. :( so for now I'll just list the character chart again here. I accidentally used William's name instead of Georges in some spots. Oops. :) I've also decided to make Dakota and Montana twins, since that runs in families. Anyway, I'm back now and I'm back to work. Hope you enjoy. Also, be sure to check out the AN posted at the bottom, it's super important.

Disclamer: I do not own anything from Red vs. Blue, or Roosterteeth.

See ch. 1 for character listings

"If something came up involving the project, such as a court case or an investigation, you would be pulled directly into it. And if something was to happen, and they started a draft, you would all be near the top of the list; that's our biggest worry, and with the behavior of some colonies…" She trailed off after mentioning the revolts in some of the nearby colonies.

Although Sarah would probably need a thorough, hour-long explanation of what we were just told, Leonard, George, and I understood. If something went wrong, we'd be some of the first they'd look to; either to blame or to ask for help, depending on the situation.

About that time, we heard a crash, followed by a shout. "MONTANA NO!"

We all looked up when we heard a thumping noise, then looked to the stairs where we saw little William running down as fast as he could without falling; although he nearly did.

"Auntie Katie" He shouted as he ran. "Tana threw shoe at Koda again. She broke the lamp." He yelled in his little British accent using the nicknames his father had given the young twins.

In a single instant, 'Aunt' Katie's face darkened and her husband face-palmed while Katie's own twin, Mark reached for her arm to try to hold her back long enough to calm down. Of course he was too late, and she was up the stairs before he could catch her and we were all standing there, looking up to the first floor wondering what would happen.

After we lost the sound of Katie stomping up to the second floor William asked in a worried tone, "Is Tana and Koda going to be ok?"

"Tana and Koda _will_ be ok, yes." his mother corrected. "You know your Auntie would never hurt her children. Tana will probably just be grounded." she said, trying to comfort him.

"But then she won't be able to come over to play. Koda neither." He pouted.

"Koda _either." _she reminded him. "And why won't he be able to?"

"Because he started it. He licked her candy bar."

At that we all broke into laughter, with Mark laughing the loudest. We'd all seen how the 'old twins' as we called them acted. They were always finding ways to irritate the other.

A few minutes later, the adults left to finish watching the game and 'Uncle' Jake went to gather his wife and kids, deciding it would be best to head on home. Terra joined us after they left and we let William pick a movie since we all new he was the only one Sarah wouldn't argue with over movies; she at least had the courtesy not to bicker with young children. As he set to digging through the binder of G-PG movies, we all sat around the small table in the back of the room near the snack bar to discuss what we'd just learned, catch Terra up, and to explain it to Sarah so she wouldn't bother her parents too much.

"I don't get it." she whined. "I mean, I know a lot of people know me at school and all, but, like, why would the military care?"

George rolled his eyes and Leonard responded, "That's not what Mom meant."

"Yeah." George pitched in. "No offense Sarah, but I don't think you really apply. I mean the rest of us all excel in academics and some form of extracurricular. Like the twins are good at gymnastics and track, Terra's a great speaker, negotiator, and debater, and is her class president, I'm good at football and boxing, Sarah and Lenny are both great at karate, he also works with technology and is getting his pilot's license and she's a dead shot in marksman ship knows how to bypass locks and codes and speaks six other languages."

"Seven" I pitched in, grinning.

"Seven, sorry." He laughed before continuing. "And even Will over there is a genius in his own right. I mean the kid's been reading since he was 3 and is a math _freak_. What I'm tryin to say is you aren't really outstanding at much other than being, well a teenager." He paused seeing the shock on her face. "Don't get upset though, that means you'll get to stay home if anything bad ever happens. You'll probably never have to do anything dangerous your entire life." He smiled, oblivious as ever to how his blunt, honest words could come off extremely rude.

"Idiot." I said smacking him across the back of the head. He got the message, and didn't respond.

Sarah just sat there absorbing what he'd just said. I'd expected her to cry or yell or something, but she just stared at him. I guessed the shock of having been told the truth so bluntly made something click in that tiny brain of hers, because when she finally responded it was to say, "I guess I'll have to start working on being good at something else then. After all, Mom and Dad were both really good. I'd hate to be the one who let them down."

"It's ok, Sarah", Terra said putting a hand on her shoulder. "You're good in your biology class. And you like to watch all those medical shows. Have you ever considered studying to become a doctor or emergency response person? Maybe that's what you'll be good at."

They all thought about it and voiced our agreements to encourage her, and I sat there silently watching them and thinking about how what George said would really help her in the future, as long as she held on to his words. Then William ran over to show us the movie he'd picked out.

"I want to watch this one!" He said excitedly, holding up the movie.

"I think that's a great choice!" George said and Leonard agreed, but we all looked at Sarah for her reaction.

She stared back for a moment, contemplating, then sighed and said, "Well, I guess there's no harm in watching something new." And even smiled.

"I'll put it in." Terra said taking the movie from William.

And we all sat down to watch Star Wars Ep. IV

Important: Hello to all my readers. I know I've been away for a while, but college is tough. Add that to a crazy job schedule and you basically expect daily chaos. I'm back now, and brain storming on both my stories and even considering some others. AND, I have a very important request for all of you. I'm asking you, yes you with your nose in a computer, phone, or any other tech device, to break out your drawing supplies. That's right, it's fan art time; all you have to do is draw one or more of my Ocs and send me a link through private messaging. Now, I know some people aren't comfortable with sharing their art to the general audience, so I'm starting a two way competition; one for those of you who don't want it to be shared, but want to be recognized as the best, and one for the person who wants to share it with all my other readers. It can be from either story, and may include non-Ocs as well. If you have any questions, just message me, or respond in the reviews. … I'm pretty sure there will be questions though, because I'm not to good at explaining this. The winners of each story and category (if there are participants in both) will be announced on the 1st of each month. So you all have the opportunity to win

Hope you all enjoyed. Please comment and follow. :)


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Disclamer: I do not own anything from Red vs. Blue, or Roosterteeth.

Katherine's P.O.V.

Later than evening, once we were back home and the kids had settled into the office to study, Caroline for her Calculus test, and Leonard for his finals, I was pulled aside by John to talk about what had happened earlier.

"So what really made you decide to tell them?" He questioned. "There are always riots in one colony or the other; they've never seen fit to call in for an emergency draft before, let alone train people like us. What do you know that you're not sharing?" He raised an eyebrow, knowing that I'd give in.

"You're right, it isn't the rioting, it's the issue of former special ops soldiers going rogue; everyone from pilots to ODSTs, even Spartans. John, Project Freelancer is still questioned about our role in the war and whether what we did helped or hurt the efforts of everyone else. I mean it's not like we were doing much in the war for our own race, instead we were experimenting with equipment we had no right to, pitting people against each without telling them with the sole purpose of research on A.I.s, and fighting over land and property we had no claim to just so we could say it was ours. We never did anything that was really of any help. All we did was make things worse for everyone else, so I'm sure they'd look at us to be the next to rebel. And of course, because of this, they'll expect our children to as well. They'll want to keep them as close to themselves and as far from us as possible. If things keep getting worse with no sign of being able to get them back under control, they may take them. I can't let them go through what we did. I know the older ones would probably stand a chance to make it through all the training, but not the younger ones. We were supposed to the be the back up if the Spartans failed; that was our job, and we failed before we even got the chance to do it." I slammed my fist down on the bedside table, but paused when I noticed I'd cracked it.

John, who'd been standing there patiently sat next to me on the bed and put an arm around me. "I know you're worried about all of this, but I also know how hard it will be for the people who'd be dumb enough to try to take any of our kids." He smiled, trying to comfort me. "I also trust the older ones to look after the younger if anything happened to us. They've all been given the opportunity to learn self defense, even Sarah, as bad as she is at it. Not to mention the our two are better than you with guns." I glared back and he chuckled. "I'm just as worried as you, but they are valuable assets when it comes down to it, so I really doubt anyone would come looking to hurt them. And even if they recruited into a draft, it'd be their opportunity to prove they're better than we were, that they can do the jobs we couldn't. Yes?"

"I don't care. I don't want them to. We chose to join. They shouldn't be obligated to just because of that." I replied.

"And what if _they_ choose to?" He looked at me seriously.

I shook my head. "I still wouldn't let them." Before the project was shut down and everything cleaned up, I never would have considered becoming a parent, but now that I was 18 years into it, I realized how protective I'd become. "They'd have some serious work cut out for them trying to convince me to let them go."

John laughed and gave my shoulder a squeeze before heading to the bathroom for a shower. However, he paused looking to the door. "Kid's are coming." he said before plopping into the desk chair.

Ever since the sparring incident with Tex, were John lost vision in his left eye, his hearing had seemed to improve, especially in his left ear; I suppose to pick up the slack. And sure enough, a few moments later, I heard them myself, followed by a smell suspiciously similar to pizza.

Caroline's P.O.V.

"Hey, Leonard." I said quietly, looking up from my unfinished study guide. "Do you think the riots in the colonies are really going to lead to all out war?"

He looked up shocked. "No. Why would you think that?"

"Well, Mom said that she figured now was the right time to tell us, but instead of only telling us older kids, she told Sarah too." I said.

"She probably knew Sarah wouldn't understand." He reasoned.

"I don't think that's it. Everyone knows Sarah won't give up until she understands something; she'd drive everyone insane until she got it." I paused, thinking. "What would you do if we did get drafted?"

He stared at me in blank confusion for a moment, then answered. "Well, I don't think we'd have much choice in the matter to do anything but show up at our designated training facility."

"Don't be so sure." I answered under my breath, before saying a bit louder. "I _mean_ what would you do when you got there? Would you just join in with every other country Joe, or would you opt to go into a specialize training program, like our parents?"

"You don't want to go do you?" He asked in disbelief.

"Of course not, I'd fight like hell to not get taken, but if they did succeed in getting me there and keeping me there, I'd do whatever I could to be the best, that way I could help the war be over sooner and we could all get back home."

"You know, that sounded extremely childish," he laughed. "Besides, I doubt they'd just let us go home afterwards, and even if they did are you sure we'd be able to just go back to normal?"

"No. I know we wouldn't. Mom still has nightmares, and she's been inactive for almost 20 years. What I mean is that maybe if we worked hard, they'd pay more attention to us and send the others back home before they'd be needed. I don't want them in harms way." I said gripping my pencil.

"Me neither," he said. "But I honestly doubt it will come to all that."

"I sure hope not, because as much as they may need us, unless they're willing to give me very good reasons for helping, they'll be in for a fight to get me to go."

"Oh, you're not the only one, believe me. And as for Sarah, well they'd be bringing her back. Maybe we could even bargain with them: 'We'll keep her if you let us go'." We both laughed.

"Another thing I've been wondering though is, what is this 'project' Mom was talking about?" I wondered aloud after a moment or two.

"Not sure. Maybe we could ask."

I shook my head. "She said we were ready to know about it, but I think we've been told all she wants us to hear right now. She might get around to explaining everything in depth eventually, but I'm not that patient; it could be too late by then." We both thought on that silently for a few minutes, but then my stomach growled.

"I'm hungry. You?" I asked standing up.

"Yeah, a bit. Wanna split a pizza?" Leonard asked, grinning.

"Sure." I answered and we both left for the kitchen.

Once we had put the pizza in the oven, I excused myself to use the restroom, but as soon as I was out of the kitchen I took a left instead of a right and immediately took off my shoes. Our parents room was at the end of the hall, but Dad had really good hearing and if I wanted to over hear any conversation they might have been having, I'd have to take extra care to be as quiet as possible; good think I had socks on today.

After I'd made my way down to their door, I crouched by the wall and listened as carefully as I could. The doors and walls in our house were thick though, so I only picked up bits and pieces.

"…isn't the rioting…going rogue… DSTs…even Spartans….John, Project Freelancer… role in the war…not doing much… experimenting on equipment… research on A.I.s…over land and property…" After that, she started to raise her voice a bit, which made it easer to hear, but also made it easy to understand that she had nothing more to say that would give away anything important, just ranting, so I stood up and made my way back to the end of the hall and then to the kitchen.

"Took you long enough." Leonard joked.

"Took a detour."

"You didn't go listening in on Mom and Dad's conversations again did you? I've told you before, you're lucky you haven't heard about the plans for another sibling," he laughed.

"I think we gave them enough trouble when we were young that they're way past that. Besides, they get plenty of alone time when we go on summer retreat." shot back, laughing as well.

The pizza didn't take more than a few more minutes and after it was done, we split it onto four separate plates and started down the hall to bring them to our parents. I had mentioned that none of us had eaten more than a handful of chips at the Bennit's and that our parents were likely as hungry as we were, even if they hadn't noticed it yet; a trait they and our uncle's and Aunt Katie all seemed to share.

I made sure to take heavy steps as we neared their room to be sure we had their attention, and when we finally reached the door, I gave it a couple of taps with my foot, as both hands a were full.

"Come on in." Dad shouted.

"If you want to eat, you have to open the door." I shouted back. "Unless you'd rather me try to open it with my foot, or balance a plate on my head." I joked, laughing.

He came to open the door quickly enough. "Yes! Pizza. Which slice is mine?" He questioned as soon as we were inside.

"Here." Leonard handed him a plate and brought the other to our Mom, before taking his own from me.

"Thanks guys." Mom said after taking a bite. "I hadn't even thought about eating, or we would have stopped on the way home."

"It's ok. Besides, we don't all get to spend much time together anymore, with me working and Leonard dating." I joked, choking a bit on my pizza when he elbowed my side.

"You're asking for it, kid." He said seriously.

"Ooohhhh yeeeaaaahhh, that's right!" I said feigning realization. "You haven't told them about your latest girlfriend have you. Or really any of them. …oops." I said grinning.

"None of that in our room you two. Go destroy your own stuff if you want to fight." Dad laughed.

"It's ok, you don't always have to tell us who your dating, Leonard. We trust you in that aspect." Mom took another bite of pizza, then continued. "However, we do fully expect you to include us when and if it comes down to marriage or children. I'd like to know if you plan on making me a grandmother, so I can get into the thought process." She grinned.

"You guys are horrible." He mumbled sulking over to the desk to finish his pizza alone.

We finished our pizza and talked about regular things, choosing to avoid bringing up today's earlier topic, and soon, Leonard and I said goodnight to our parents and left to go back to our studying.

"You're a real jerk." He said as we entered the office. "I didn't want them to know until I knew whether or not it would work out."

"Well it seems to be working out fine." I replied. "After all you do see each other every day over lunch. Maybe you should inviter her over sometime." I smiled encouragingly.

"WAIT A MINUTE! Now that I think about it. HOW DO YOU EVEN KNOW ABOUT REBECCA? OR THAT WE EAT LUNCH TOGETHER EVERYDAY?" He yelled.

"Well, to be perfectly honest, I didn't know anything about 'Rebecca', and I only guessed you were eating lunch with a girl because you always meet me when I'm out for lunch unless you're hanging out with your friends, in which case you give me the names of the people you'll be with." I said coolly. "You're pretty predictable."

"Why? Why did I have to have you for a sister?" He whined.

"Because I'm awesome, and I can find out whatever I want." I smiled.

"What do you mean?" He asked curiously. "You mean you actually got something from listening in?" He guessed catching on.

I nodded. "Yup. I didn't get much, but what I did hear could potentially be useful… I hope." I said pulling out my laptop.

"I doubt you'll find anything, and even if you do, it'll probably be blocked."

I grinned at him evilly. "Not for long."

"No." He said fearfully. "Don't try to hack into military information again." But of course, he was too interested to stop me from trying.


End file.
